What is a prostitute? Possibly you know one. A prostitute is a person who engages in sexual activity for payment. Many people in the United States frown upon the idea of selling your body for a profit, but what if there was a way to make prostitution a better situation for everyone. If handled properly prostitution can become just another job for those who struggle to find a source of income. Prostitution also has the potential to become another good source of income for the United States. Did you know that there are an estimated 1-2 million illegal prostitutes in the United States alone?
This problem is not just local it is a national epidemic, however some countries are actually putting legal prostitution to the test by legalizing prostitution and making it legal to bring in income for the government of that individual country. Some people believe that prostitution has the potential to lower crime rates, increase revenue for the government, and give men and women in the business more of a right to do what they want with their bodies. One may even say that legalizing prostitution could decrease attacks on prostitutes by providing the workers with protection under the government like any other ordinary job.
While Prostitution may be illegal in the United States and other countries as well, there are reasons why prostitution should not be an issue the government prevents; it should be something the government supports. According to Sarah Siskind, “It is often said that politics is the oldest profession after prostitution. ” Siskind’s examples include as follows: If a beautiful lady sells magazine subscriptions better than an ugly man, is she a prostitute? If a painter sells a painting of a naked woman, is he a pimp? Is a modeling agency guilty of sex trafficking? Should women who choose a date for materialistic reasons be put in jail?
Most might answer no. However, all these examples represent either the economic benefit of sexual advantage or the sexual benefit of economic advantage. Nevertheless prostitution also fits into some of these categories, yet it continues to be illegal in some places. Prostitution is legal in 49% of all countries worldwide, leaving 39% illegal and 12% with limited legality. One of these countries with limited legality includes the United States as studied by “100 Countries and Their Prostitution Policies. ”
According to “How We Should Handle Prostitution” by Simon Hedlin, surveys have found that sex-buying rates in the U. S. have not changed much since the 1990s. Up to 14% of American men have purchased sex at some point. Although many people arrested for prostitution are victims of sex trafficking, rather than the buyers. By some counts, more than 90% of those who are arrested for prostitution in the United States are those who sell sex; fewer than 10% are buyers. Yet many people in prostitution are victims of exploitation, whereas buyers are often among the privileged. A 2013 survey of American men who frequently bought sex found that almost half had an annual income of $120,000 or more, and close to 80% had graduated from college.
These are outstanding statistics, because rather than the actual buyers and abusers of sex workers being the most popularly arrested, it is the working person who is trying to make a living that is arrested for trying to provide for a family, make money when all else fails, and there are even workers arrested for being in the business unwillingly. This is something that should be intolerable by the government. “Sex workers must have better access to housing, healthcare, education and opportunities to leave the sex industry. ” said Simon Hedlin.
As said by Corrinne Purtill, “Amnesty International now joins the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, the World Health Organization and other global groups that argue the best way to protect the safety of people who sell sex is to legalize the industry. ” Some may think that prostitutes could be protected by laws put into place regarding their treatment and safety. Also if prostitution was legalized it may be assumed that prostitutes would no longer fear repercussion from the law when reporting violence towards themselves or others, they could feel more protected, and it could even help the law enforcement apprehend more sexual predators.
According to the article “Sex, Lies and Statistics” after investigating the sex trade in eight big American cities, researchers concluded that pimps can do rather well for themselves. Some in Atlanta bring in $33,000 a week, the study estimates. In Denver, with a population of 2. 5m in 2007 if you include the suburbs, the sex trade grossed $40 million. The price for a trick today ranges from a miserable $15 to a bounteous $1,000 or more. Prostitutes have many options besides street-walking. The internet makes it easier for them to set up “dates” and negotiate prices, and harder for the police to catch them.
They feel less vulnerable using social-media sites than doing the “stroll”. But 36% nonetheless report that some clients were violent or abusive. This proves that pimps actually make more than the prostitutes themselves. If the government were to legalize brothels, prostitution and pimps it is possible that these things could bring in a large amount of revenue for the government if taxed. Every prostitute should work for a pimp and every pimp for a brothel, therefore leaving the brothels to be taxed by the government and to bring in money for that particular country.
Most would believe it to be an ingenious ideal. As stated by a study documented by Barbara Brents in 2014, “There are countries that have legal prostitution with taxation and they function well. In the rural counties outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, about 500 women work as legal independent contractors in just under 30 brothels. Colleagues and I at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas have been conducting research in these brothels for more than 15 years. In legal brothels, employees report that they feel safe, are free to come and go, and are bound only by their contract.
Of the brothel workers we surveyed, 84 per cent said that their job felt safe. Workers report that they felt safe largely because the police, employers and co-workers were there to protect them. ” This is proof enough alone to know that legal prostitution can work and it does help workers in the sex industry feel safe and more secure. So, while prostitution may still not be fully legal in the United States, there is immaculate proof that governments before and in other countries have prospered with legal prostitution displaying that it is possible for the United States to do the same.
